SM OU OU Balanced Team

PichuEevee

I have tried to balance my team as well as possible however it definitely needs improving as it doesn't do too well against stall or scarf. I'm rather new to pokemon so give me some help! I need it!

Valkyrie (Salazzle) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt
Salazzle is a great counter to non-scarfed Garchomp and Landorous T and taunt slows down most stall pokemon for a switch in to Kartana. It lures in Earthquake users pretty well for a switch into Aerodactyl if a can predict scarf, or if I can't eat up an attack with sash. However rocks and spikes are very annoying as they break sash and force me to be perfect on my predictions ( which I'm not always the best at). Sludge Wave destroys fairy types and is great at stopping Clefable before it sets up. It will also do very well with its flame thrower against Magearna but Lele is a pretty hard counter to it, scarf is too because, even if I run it it doesn't work too well against a lot of pokemon and I'm still outsped by Greninja. I have tried to replace it but run up against too many checks, but if I can please help!

Almia (Aerodactyl-Mega) @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail
- Fire Fang
It's a great pokemon due to high damage and being able to quickly remove Ferrothorn and Chansey from the battle field before I have to deal with toxic and stealth rocks which are highly annoying to deal with. Fire fang breaks most grass pokemon and Aqua tail is useful against ground types. It also has great synergy with Salazzle by blocking earthquake and forcing a switch. Stone edge does high damage with a high crit rate but is generally unreliable to hit. It outspeeds many pokemon and will do high damage if not faint slower pokemon. It does have checks to high defence pokemon but I hope there is a way to overcome that in this team.

Mizuchi (Goodra) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Focus Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
Is a wonderful switch-in to special attackers as it absorbs hits pretty well, it lacks recovery but rest would be it's only way of doing so and I would sacrifice assault vest. It is a great switch to Ferrothorn by absorbing leech seed and/or powerwhip just to retaliate woth a 4 times super effective flamethrower. Focus blast does a great job of removing dark and steel types however is unreliable with it's low hit rate. It generally only goes in to check a pokemon, force a switch maybe hit a draco meteor or two and switch out to another pokemon like Kartana or Lele to respond with more high damage instead of risking losing a useful pokemon.

Anthrax (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Recover
- Stockpile
- Toxic
- Liquidation
I have won a lot of battles with this one, they usually rage as I have maxed out stockpile and they have no counter to toxic. Liquidation sometimes breaks stall by lowering defense but is too unreliable to be trusted to do so. It does a great job of tanking hits, even super effective ones, using stockpile and then recovering hp to continue the cycle until I use toxic and put a huge dent in any team. Alakazam and other psychic types do counter Toxapex to an extent, along with ground types and earthquake Charazard X.

Aurelia (Tapu Lele) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 100 HP / 168 SpA / 240 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
Although it lacks recovery outside of Aguav Berry, calm mind works very well, and aromatherapy finds constant good value. Moonblast and thunderbolt do a good job of taking out many pokemon, and even Gyarados surprisingly well. However I wonder is psyshock could be better to stop Chansey and Blissey better instead of getting forced to switch out rendering Lele pretty useless for the late game. It does get out speed 25% of the time but I will usually find good value out of it from an opponent who doesn't expect Aguav and can't revenge kill well later on which generally takes out 2-3 pokemon if I'm lucky. Landorous T can be very annoying and I wonder if taunt should replace aromatherapy but am scared that I won't be able to remove status on other pokemon before taunting.

Seigi (Kartana) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
The last pokemon I will talk about, great for snowballing and takes out most flying types with Z move, defog removes rocks that break salazzle and can't get seeded or by a Ferrothorn that wishes to place them again, also it can't get sleep powdered or spored which makes for great switch ins forcing switch outs and giving me a free swords dance that is very annoying for stall or a slower pokemon that wanted to tank a hit and then flamethrower like Goodra. It does well against Tyranitar as it out speed and can tank a stone edge or ice punch from an unsuspecting tyranitar.

All in all this team must have drawbacks (even if I havn't lost yet, but I suspect beginners luck), there are things that slow the teams flow very well and get some fainting done or even sweep the whole team, (I know that they are there, it's unavoidable on a first team isn't it?). But I hope you can find something, I will take any suggestions as I'm pretty open minded, (I hope), Thanks!
 
TheTapDancer

TheTapDancer

There's a lot of odd decisions on this team, but fundamentally I don't see how you plan to win games. You have no plan for any setup sweepers, no speed control of any kind, and definitely don't have enough bulk to actually hold off any offensive teams. I think you'd be better off using sample teams until you have a little more of an idea of how to form gameplans, but a few important points in general:

1. If a pokemon is RU, there's probably a reason for that. Salazzle with a Focus Sash doesn't do enough damage - you state it as a Landorus check but it won't even kill most Landorus with a HP Ice. It's also too slow for a metagame filled with Koko and Greninja, weak to hazards and priority, and frail enough to collapse to attacks from walls. Its only real niche in OU is to toxic Heatran and Toxapex on teams very weak to them.

2. Aero is an interesting mon but there's no reason to use four attacks Aero over similar breakers like four attacks Lopunny. Aero's advantage is access to Stealth Rocks or Defog as an attacker who can get utitility when your opponent switches out.

3. Again, Goodra just isn't good without support. It can be an effective part of a defensive core with a wish passer or grassy terrain, but on a team like this it's just going to get worn down, and doesn't threaten defensive pokemon in OU.

4. Do not use Stockpile or Cosmic Power setup pokemon. You just ask to get reverse swept by things like Swords Dance Kartana, who is immune to toxic and will kill you as soon as it crits. (And both of its STAB attacks have increased crit chance.) Toxapex 100% needs Haze to be any good, or it will just die to setup sweepers. Additionally, we don't use attacks on Pex to do damage but to inflict status - Liquidation will do no damage to anything, and although Scald won't either, it can inflict Burns which are very valuable.

5. Aromatherapy Lele is actually a nice ideea that I might have to try, but Lele doesn't work well as a bulky pokemon. It's much better to be going for brute force with it - there is absolutely no reason to ever run a Lele without a Psychic attack, the psychic terrain is the whole reason it's better than mons like Alakazam. (Also you don't have a nature on it?)
 

PichuEevee

I am trying Heatran scarf but thanks for the advice (remember I am new and trying to learn the meta) oh and Aerodactyl is great against heatran for earthquake, goodra usually isn't in much, I just use it to tank a hit and force a switch to an easier to deal with pokemon, I will use psyshock on lele whitch I had already done before you replied, I was planning to change liquidation to scald on toxapex last night but never got the chance, here are some wins with heatran:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-890766146
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-890785104
Heatran outspeeds kartana with scarf so toxapex can be a great lure, heatran forces a switch usually too, if they predict scsrf, if they don't it's byebye kartana. I will fix no nature on lele.
 
Last edited:

Meowerdoom

If you're only using Goodra to tank the occasional hit, might I recommend Gliscor instead? Roost plus Poison Heal makes for fantastic recovery, you have two immunities, one of which extends to spikes and web, and you have the options of putting Toxic, Stealth Rock, Taunt, U-Turn, Defog, and all sorts of other stuff on it. If you really need to beat Ferrothorn, you can invest in Atk some and run Fire Fang. Also, once you have your poison activated, you can safely pivot Gliscor into Knock Off and status moves.
 

PichuEevee

Thanks that's a great help! I will try that the second it turns out Goodra sucks. And Goodra is my tank pokemon and not needed to destroy ferrothorn. Goodra believe it or not as it's not meta, sort of holds the team together as I always have switch in sp atk without too much worry. TheTapDancer only rated the one pokemon and left out the other pokemon in what too improve, it would be great if everyone could rate the whole team at once instead of effectively telling me to remove important synergy for my team.

In highly mocking tone: I don't see how you plan to win battles... meanwhile below the clouds: I HAVE NEVER LOST YET WITH THIS TEAM AND FREAKING STOCKPILE TOXAPEX HAS COUNTER KARTANA SYNERGY WITH HEATRAN... panting

That was a bit ott but Gliscor sounds like a great option! Could you share some sp atk dmg calculations to convince me further! PS. You don't have to but it would be nice to see. PPS. Do you have any recommended sets for Gliscor as well? And it really feels I have heard your reason for Gliscor before... where did you get it from or is it just Dejavu?
 
Last edited:

Meowerdoom

PichuEevee said:
Thanks that's a great help! I will try that the second it turns out Goodra sucks. And Goodra is my tank pokemon and not needed to destroy ferrothorn. Goodra believe it or not as it's not meta, sort of holds the team together as I always have switch in sp atk without too much worry. TheTapDancer only rated the one pokemon and left out the other pokemon in what too improve, it would be great if everyone could rate the whole team at once instead of effectively telling me to remove important synergy for my team.

In highly mocking tone: I don't see how you plan to win battles... meanwhile below the clouds: I HAVE NEVER LOST YET WITH THIS TEAM AND FREAKING STOCKPILE TOXAPEX HAS COUNTER KARTANA SYNERGY WITH HEATRAN... panting

That was a bit ott but Gliscor sounds like a great option! Could you share some sp atk dmg calculations to convince me further! PS. You don't have to but it would be nice to see. PPS. Do you have any recommended sets for Gliscor as well? And it really feels I have heard your reason for Gliscor before... where did you get it from or is it just Dejavu?
Click to expand...
Tbh ive been on for like less than a year, but my first time I used a tank Gliscor. Started with the smogon dex set, tweaked it a bit, decided i liked it more than other tanks. So uh. Newb experience. As for specific sets, Gliscor's Atk is... decent and not much else unless you run an offensive set. I'd recommend a Toxic, Defog, Roost, and EQ/Rocks set since even with investment, Ice Fang likely won't OHKO much of anything. Use Toxic and just stall them out instead. Take Defog off Kartana and give it Smart Strike so you have an actual Lele check instead of a mirror match.
I'm on mobile rn so calcs are a pain in the ass, so are stats, sorry.
 
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